Brand new Marvel Pinball tables will be available tomorrow via PSN on PS3! Marvel’s The Avengers, based on Marvel Entertainment’s BILLION dollar movie, World War Hulk, The Infinity Gauntlet, and Fear Itself make up one of our most exciting videogame pinball releases ever. Each table is based on a huge event in the Marvel universe, and I cannot hide the fact that we are very proud of these tables! We have taken major steps forward with our pinball craft and of course, I could go on forever and ever about how great I think the new tables are, but I’ll let them do the talking! Check out the trailer for Fear Itself.

So, what is new and different about this set of Marvel Pinball tables? Previous tables were developed around individual characters, pitting you against their enemies with table elements focused on capturing their personalities. With the Avengers Chronicles tables, we focused more on storytelling, basing each table on an event in the Marvel Universe. In order to accomplish this, we recorded more voiceover than in any previous set of tables, and most of the lines are straight out of the comics. For example, The Infinity Gauntlet table alone has 139 lines pulled directly from the comic series and outlines the events of the story arc. And if you want to know more about Thanos (no spoilers here), may I suggest The Infinity Gauntlet table as a means to learn about the Mad Titan?

Did anyone happen to see a little movie released back in May that has broken box office records? Yes, Marvel’s The Avengers! I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who have not seen the movie, but the Avengers table is based on events in the smash-hit flick. Back in the glory days of pinball machines, pinball was the center of pop culture, and a table was released for everything big in mass market entertainment. It is pretty cool that we have a table based on a movie that has broken countless records! Our friend Chris Baker from Marvel Entertainment wrote a post here on the blog about Marvel’s The Avengers table a few weeks ago – so if you need more info on that table, it is a great read.

Finally, Hulk is making his Marvel Pinball debut. We have had about ten million requests for Hulk, so we are happy to give him to you in a big way. World War Hulk is an explosive story, and the table reflects that in every way. I am sure you will all enjoy playing in the ruins of Manhattan as you crank up the volume on Hulk’s intense one liners. You’ll also get a cool cameo appearance from the Punisher!

I also wanted to take a moment and update you on Zen Pinball 2. We had planned to release the new Avengers Chronicles pack in line with the release of Zen Pinball 2, however we are experiencing some delays, and unfortunately this will not happen as planned. Technically speaking, Zen Pinball 2 is a very complex game and we have been working very closely with Sony to get it released as soon as possible. The wait will be worthwhile – I am proud to say that Zen Pinball 2 was nominated for Best of Show from IGN, and Best Portable by Destructoid at E3!

As always, I want to say thank you to all of you from all of us at Zen Studios. We truly appreciate your support and look forward to hearing what you think about the new tables.

It’s a truly historic day here at the House of Ideas, as Marvel’s The Avengers is finally making its way to American theaters. I’ve seen it. It’s awesome. I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me soon. (Maybe you already do.)

As Interactive Manager at Marvel, it’s been my pleasure to work with Zen Studios on the video-pinball adaptation of the film, which, as one of four great tables in Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles, should be headed your way in just a few weeks. It looks a little something like this…

Cool trailer, I know, but you can see it pretty much anywhere. When Sid Shuman and Jeff Rubenstein – who preside over the PlayStation Blog with legendary Thanos-ian tyranny – demanded I present “a li’l somethin’ extra for our minions,” who was I to say no? So, here you have it, my fellow peons – five cool things about “Marvel’s The Avengers” pinball…

5) Zen Pinball 2!
“Marvel’s The Avengers” and the other three tables within the Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles four-pack help to usher in Zen’s new PlayStation pinball platform on the same launch date (best I can give you now: “soon”). You can read all the details here, but the basics you need to know are 1) it houses all past Marvel Pinball and Zen Pinball titles under one virtual roof, 2) it does more stuff than those other two titles, and 3) you can switch between playing on PS3 and Vita at no extra charge. Excelsior, indeed.

4) Real Movie Assets
See that Quinjet? And those 3D character models? Oh, and those S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors with all sorts of high-tech-looking pictures of countries and stuff (you may have gotten a better look at Comic-Con)? They’re all taken directly from digital assets used in the film. So, that is the Quinjet. Those are Iron Man and Hulk. Those are the same S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors with all sorts of high-tech-looking pictures of countries and stuff.

3) You’re Not Just a Ball – You’re a Character…in the Form of a Ball
In terms of sheer gameplay, this is what makes “Marvel’s The Avengers” one of the most unique video pinball tables you’ll ever play. As you may have noticed, none of the screenshots feature a traditional silver ball for this table – that’s because no traditional silver balls exist at any time while you play. Instead, an Avenger of your choosing – represented by the balls you see above – is dropped right into the thick of things, each boasting his or her own unique buffs based on character specialties. (My personal favorite: An exclusive bonus to the skillshot when you’re Hawkeye.) I look forward to watching the Zen Studios forums and seeing how sequence of Avenger selection affects the battle plan for all the hardcore Zen fans out there.

2) Thor vs. Hulk!
‘Nuff said.

1) Movie Guys Helped Make It
This table was a true team effort. In addition to our games group here at Marvel and, most especially, the immense talent at Zen Studios, “Marvel’s The Avengers” features what may very well be a video pinball first – actual filmmaker involvement.

One of the coolest parts of the development experience for me was shooting ideas around with Executive Producer Jeremy Latcham, Creative Manager of R&D Will Corona Pilgrim and few others of Marvel Studios’ finest. They were genuinely enthused about the process, and I credit them fully with coming up with inspiring some of the missions, as well as the idea of having the Helicarrier act as the setting for the board. Once things were in full swing, Will was especially helpful, providing detailed feedback on everything from character animations to the minute details of the table’s script.

All told, the film team provided some invaluable ideas and feedback. You can tell there’s a lot of talent there – the type that’s capable of creating what very well may be the best super hero movie ever, I’d say…

Let’s take a brief look at each of the tables in the Vengeance and Virtue pack so you can understand how we’ve captured these dynamic concepts and the personalities of each character.

The Ghost Rider table captures the atmosphere and apocalyptic visuals from the comics of the past few years, inspired largely by his 2006 series as well as Jason Aaron’s 2009 “Heaven’s on Fire” storyline. The table is set up like a stunt show set from Hell, with Johnny Blaze front and center on his custom chopper and the Hellfire shotgun at his disposal. Lucifer is constantly taunting Ghost Rider, and he holds the key to several missions and modes within the table. Johnny Blaze must also fend off the Orb’s laser blasts, defeat swarms of crows sent by Scarecrow, defeat the fallen angel Zadkiel, and even make deals with the classic villain Mephisto. Needless to say, there is plenty of devilish action in this hellish carnival playfield!

Let’s be honest, you are all sitting here asking yourself, “why Moon Knight”? Let me tell you why! The integral aspects of Moon Knights story – villains, weapons and the powers of the Egyptian Moon god Khonshu – translate into an amazing pinball experience. As Moon Knight, Marc Spector wields the power of Khonshu and operates as the Egyptian god’s vengeful avatar on Earth, fighting crime on the streets of New York City. One of the coolest things this one brings to the, uh, table is the addition of actual boss fights, complete with health bars. Moon Knight faces off against some of his most classic villains, including Bushman, Midnight, the Black Spectre and Morpheus. He even pilots the Moon Copter, and Marvel allowed us to create a brand new weapon for his arsenal – the Moon Crossbow, used in a special minigame.

Now that we’ve seen what the “Vengeance” half of this collection has to offer, let’s delve into its “Virtue”-themed characters…

Thor is all about the glory of victory, and this table has no shortage of electrifying battles against some of Thor’s biggest enemies. Trigger these boss fights by activating the Gate of Asgard and then hitting the ball across the Rainbow Bridge. You can then select which boss fight to engage: Loki, Destroyer, Ymir or Surtur. The God of Thunder will unleash strikes of brilliant lighting and the powerful hammer Mjolnir as he defends Asgard and the Nine Realms. The table comes replete with nice added touches, including a ramp that circles Asgard and exits the ball through the mouth of the Midgard Serpent.

The X-Men table embodies the classic conflict between Professor Charles Xavier’s band of Super Hero mutants against Magneto and his Brotherhood. Players must deploy the powers of Iceman, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Psylocke and Storm as they take on such classic villains as Mystique, Juggernaut and the Blob, as well as mutant-hunting Sentinels. The table features missions inspired by actual comic events, such as Magneto’s destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge (NEW X-MEN #147) and a pinball version of the Dark Phoenix Saga that uses actual dialogue from classic issues of THE UNCANNY X-MEN (#135 and #136). There is even a confrontation with the Juggernaut in which Cyclops, Iceman, Colossus and Psylocke exemplify good teamwork as they attempt to stop the unstoppable.

Each of these tables is designed from scratch around their characters’ personality, traits, weapons and stories in place. We go through a very careful planning process to make sure each table really captures the essence of each character, and it’s great having the support of Marvel all throughout the process.

And now for more on that offer to PlayStation Plus members. Now through January 3, 2012, members can download the original Marvel Pinball pack featuring Spider-Man, Wolverine, Blade and Iron Man for FREE! The Captain America and Fantastic Four DLC tables will be 50% off, so you can pick them up for $1.49 each.

If you would like the latest information on Marvel Pinball and any of our other games, be sure to follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook. I will be here answering all of your questions, so fire away.

Oh, and happy holidays!

Did you see what we did there??? “A virtuous announcement coming to New York Comic Con.” Yes, we will be revealing a new table this Saturday @ 1:15 – 2:15 during the Marvel Games panel at NYCC. Any guesses on the reveal?

On to some PS Vita news! Marvel Pinball is looking really sharp on PlayStation’s upcoming handheld. We cannot say enough about how freaking awesome this new device is and how amazing it is to develop on. Marvel Pinball is making full use of PS Vita’s coolest features, including both front- and back-panel touch support, gyro sensor, accelerometer and last but not least, cross-platform functionality with PSN. As we get closer to the release of Marvel Pinball on PS Vita, we will definitely provide more details on all of these features. One more thing: Look for Marvel Pinball to be available for PS Vita starting day one!

As you can see, there is a lot of Marvel Pinball love coming to PlayStation. Stay tuned to NYCC for news on the next table reveal. I will be checking this post throughout the weekend to answer questions. Thanks!

A lot of people ask me what I do at Marvel as Manager of Licensed Games. The answer is, probably a lot more than you think – but the most important thing by far is checking out each and every element of a game I’m assigned to, ensuring it’s as faithful to Marvel as possible.

Over the last year or so, I’ve had the privilege of working with Zen Studios on Marvel Pinball for PSN. With the Captain America DLC table coming this week, I figure there’s no better time to give you an inside look at what it’s like to approve things here by presenting my…

Top 6 Favorite Approvals for the Captain America Marvel Pinball Table

Why six? Because five just wasn’t enough. Also, know that you’re getting the real deal here – the heading for each entry below is copied and pasted verbatim from Zen’s actual approved submission. Anyway…

6. Captain America Table GDD

Approved: 11/30/10

Game developers love acronyms, and if you’re not down with the lingo, “GDD” is short for “game design document,” which basically describes the whole game on paper. You can tell the folks at Zen have this whole video pinball thing down pat, as their GDDs are always concise yet incredibly descriptive, even throwing in some nice concept art to further illustrate their ideas (yep – just like the one above).

What really impressed us about Zen’s plan for the Cap table was its very specific, comics-inspired vision for the table: “The table’s main missions resemble the stories of Cap and the Howling Commandos and are mostly inspired by Ed Brubaker’s 65th Anniversary Special comic,” the GDD says. “The table also contains many elements of other Cap stories, including conflicts with the Red Skull, who uses the Cosmic Cube against him. Zemo’s Adhesive X and his handheld Death Ray gun are also introduced, along with the Sleeper from the 65th Anniversary Special” (which you can read for yourself via Marvel Digital Comics. From this summary, we knew that we were dealing with a table set during World War II (just like the movie and the Sega game coming out in a few weeks – awesome!), and that it was also going to touch on some classic Cap stuff based in that era.

Just check out the screenshot above to see the comics’ influence in full force, as compared to Zemo’s origin depicted in the classic AVENGERS #4. Notice how the shield arcs away from having just destroyed a canister of Baron Zemo’s Adhesive X. They even nailed Cap’s follow-through!

5. Captain America Table: Character Animations

Approved: 4/12/11

I suppose you can throw in the previous Adhesive X example into this as well, but one of my favorite parts of approving these tables is checking out all the animations in the game, and seeing how they relate to their source material. Straight out of the 65th Anniversary Special, here we see Cap deflecting a powerful green optic laser from the Red Skull’s mega-robot, the Sleeper.

There are a lot of animations like this to review, and I’m thankful that Zen provides me with movie files of each and every one. After all, if you’ve played any of the past Marvel Pinball tables, you know that seeing all of the animations just by playing the game takes a level of mastery only possessed by the most powerful of pinball wizards. Of which I am not.

4. Captain America Table: Red Skull Jet Pack 3D Model

Approved: 12/17/10

Pretty self-explanatory here: It’s Red Skull…in a jetpack. We loved the look and were left wondering how sweet it would look in gameplay. And, whata’ya know…

Awesomeness confirmed.

3. CAPTAIN AMERICA TRAILER

Approved: 5/2/11

I mean, have you seen this thing? Video pinball has never looked more epic. The music playing just as the Captain America logo comes up is downright inspirational. You know…as game trailers go.

2. Captain America Table: Baron Zemo Death Ray Gun 2D Concept

Approved: 1/7/11

Sure, this trademark Baron Zemo weapon looks cool, with maybe even too much attention to detail (I’m not sure it’s even possible to see that “Z” in gameplay), but that’s not why it ranks so highly here. The real reason this submission excites me so much is the fact that I can now say this with a straight face: “I’ve approved a death ray.”

The day I approved this, I had to tweet this sentiment: “I just approved a death-ray gun for a future Marvel game. I wonder how many people’s jobs involve death-ray guns…” I’m guessing not many. I love my job.

1. Captain America Table: Release Candidate

Approved: 4/26/11

In other words: THE COMPLETED GAME ITSELF. Play it yourself when it hits Marvel Pinball on PSN this Tuesday.

Now for some Blade action! I personally think the Blade table has some of the most stunning visuals you will ever see on a pinball table. Night mode and UV balls are especially necessary as you play to defeat Deacon Frost, Dracula and hordes of vampires. The pesky Hannibal offers some backup support, but it’s really up to Blade to do the dirty work.

Keep your eyes out for tournament announcements as well as new tables – they are coming soon. If you have not already voted, there is still time to head over to www.marvelpinball.com to cast your vote for the next table. You guys are deciding who comes next, so make your voice heard (Ghost Rider is currently running away with the vote).

Even though we at ZEN Studios have been making video pinball games for many years, we never stop thinking of new features to make the game better. Marvel Pinball features two new scoring systems which are designed to improve social connectivity and overall competition. The challenge of beating our own personal scores and checking in on your leader board rankings is fun and all, but we thought it would be even better if you had an idea of your overall ranking in the community. To satisfy the craving, we built the Hero Score system which allows you to track your all-time play records and compare to the rest of the community. What about a score that measures how good you and your friends are together? Team Force requires you to band together with friends to rule the Marvel Pinball community. Could this be the beginning of pinball guilds? Disclaimer: Don’t blame us when you start receiving a bunch of random friend requests!

Pinball is a game that stands the test of time, still living beyond the glory days of the arcade and transcending console generations – we hope our love for the genre shines through in every table we release, and hopefully some of that rubs off on you!

Of course, a lot of people already say that about ZEN Pinball – so just imagine that game with tables based on Iron Man, Spider-Man, Blade and Wolverine, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what to expect.

I don’t know about you, but all of my favorite actual pinball machines from the glory days of arcades were based around licenses (e.g., Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Addams Family, etc.); to that end, the Marvel flavor really takes these tables to the next level. And while ZEN Pinball demonstrates Zen Studios’ immeasurable passion for making awesome pinball tables, Marvel Pinball enhances things with an equal passion for Marvel and its characters. These guys really get it.

Let’s take a look at each table in the initial set, shall we? (Yes, I said “initial” – Marvel Pinball will regularly expand upon with new tables. More on that at the end.)

The Invincible Iron Man

With a couple of hit movies in the recent past, some might argue that Iron Man is the most popular hero at Marvel these days. (Who’da thunk that three years ago?…) As with all tables, Zen gives us a comics-based take on Tony Stark’s heroics, including showdowns with the Mandarin, Whiplash (who at times actually destroys your ball if it crosses his path) and – if you’re a real pinball wizard – Ultimo. And the table doesn’t just stick to the “Iron Man” part of Tony’s life – you’ll also hit ramps and other targets to throw huge galas and boost Stark Industries’ stock price. You even get 3D models of Tony and Iron Man, including the suit-up process whenever you start a mission.

The Amazing Spider-Man

The Spider-Man table is all about the special touches. First of all, just check out the zoomed-out view: Though it seems a bit odd that Peter Parker would ever have a pinball machine in his apartment based around his everyday life, you have to love the setup there. And then, once you play, you get things like J. Jonah Jameson yelling at you, Mysterio reversing your controls, a “clone” multiball mode, a ramp that leads to Spidey’s hand shooting out a web and, my personal favorite…

…PLAYABLE PUMPKIN BOMBS! I mean, how cool is that?! You hit them with your flippers, and they explode after a certain amount of time and everything.

Blade

I know what you’re thinking, ‘cause it’s the same thing I thought at first: “Blade? In the first batch of tables? Really?” But then you play it and you know why. In fact, this might be my favorite table of the bunch, with all sorts of perfectly placed ramps and minigames. I especially like its day/night cycle, wherein you gather resources by day and fight vampires such as Dracula and Deacon Frost alongside Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds’ first onscreen comic book character) by night. Just like the 1998 movie, the fun everyone has with this table is really going to surprise some people.

Wolverine

And here’s the final table in this first batch, bub. At first we at Marvel wondered why Zen didn’t want to just do an X-Men table to start things out, but then they showed us just how packed with Wolverine’s history they could get – we were convinced. The table does an excellent job of showcasing Wolvie’s annual “birthday present” from Sabretooth – which, if you don’t know, is a yearly fight to the death. Plus, we get to take part in his rivalry with the Silver Samurai, scrappin’ with some Sentinels and Hand ninjas, tapping into his volatile memory, and even reliving the Weapon X experiment that infused him with adamantium. It’s also awesome when Logan’s hand bursts through the back to feed you a new ball, and I’m pretty proud of a personal contribution: to activate a ballsaver, spell out SNIKT.

And That’s Not All!

As I’ve mentioned, the four debut tables seen here are only the beginning. Marvel Pinball isn’t just a set of four tables – it’s a platform for many Marvel-related pinball tables to come. What’s next? Well, that’s something Zen wants you to help them decide between Captain America, Hulk, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider. Go to MarvelPinball.com and cast your vote! Then, let us know which tables you want to see in the comments below…